Maribel Santana and her husband Mario Santana talk about how volunteers from C.H.A.I.N.E.D. built a new shelter for their German shepherd Lobo and provide them with hay and dog food needed take care of him Sunday, December 9, 2018 in S.W. Detroit, Mich. Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

Vince Pulis and Carrie Cox both volunteers for C.H.A.I.N.E.D. care for a stray Pit Bull they picked up on the 94 service drive Sunday, December 9, 2018 in S.W. Detroit, Mich. Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

A stray Pit Bull picked up by Vince Pulis and his team all volunteers for C.H.A.I.N.E.D. is loaded into a car for his ride to a shelter Sunday, December 9, 2018 in S.W. Detroit, Mich. Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

Vince Pulis a volunteer for C.H.A.I.N.E.D. loads a cage for a stray Pit Bull they picked up on the 94 service drive Sunday, December 9, 2018 in S.W. Detroit, Mich. Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

Volunteers with C.H.A.I.N.E.D. have seen it all. Dogs loose in backyards walking amid shards of broken glass. Dogs confined in spaces virtually covered in feces. Dogs who have frozen to death. Dogs rife with mange. And even dogs who have accidentally hung themselves with their chains.

Those horror stories are why the nonprofit exists. Driving around, finding neglected dogs, having one-on-ones with owners, providing supplies, building shelters and comforting petrified dogs, volunteers say educating dog owners about proper care of their pets and helping them execute better practices is at the crux of what they do.

"You learn that (some owners) love their dogs the best way they know how to," volunteer Carrie Cox, 45, of Southgate told the Free Press. "But they may not be able to be doing any more what they are doing, in their heart of hearts they think they truly are doing the best they can."

That's where C.H.A.I.N.E.D., Inc. comes in.

"I kind of say this is like home care for dogs," founder Gina Freemon, 45, of Belleville said.

"We do Detroit 48209, 210 and 217 and Downriver... Lincoln Park, Ecorse, River Rouge, Melvindale and any Downriver (community) where anybody needs it, but those are our main cities."

Buy Photo

Gina Freemon, founder of C.H.A.I.N.E.D., hugs a stray pit bull picked up by her team of volunteers on Sunday, December 9, 2018 in S.W. Detroit.(Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press)

On Sunday, at the volunteer-based organization's "Freezin' for a Reason" winter outreach event. Freemon walked through bales of straw and igloo-shaped dog houses, some painted with messages from sponsors, outside Charlie's Bar on Springwells Street in Southwest Detroit.

"We have 300 bales of straw that were delivered this morning, and today we have 8 teams that are going out and visiting about 15 to 20 dogs per team," Freemon said. "They'll be going around stuffing dog houses or igloos full of straw, some dogs get new houses, every stop gets a bag of food. They get our winter education, and a big bone to keep them busy."

Buy Photo

One of the dogs C.H.A.I.N.E.D. volunteers checked on through a fence howls at a door on Sunday, December 9, 2018 in S.W. Detroit.(Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press)

While some volunteers stayed in the bar's lot, handing out bales of straw, houses and food for free, 10 teams of volunteers loaded up cars to check up on dogs and owners throughout Southwest Detroit.

Freemon said every house on the volunteers' lists are owners who have already filled out an application for services and signed a release of liability and an agreement that if they no longer need their C.H.A.I.N.E.D. supplied igloo dog house in the future they'll return it to the organization.

Sometimes the organization will reach out to specific homes if they get contacted by neighbors, or if they spot a chained dog during a route, Cox added.

Freemon, who works as a community care nurse, said she founded the organization in 2011 when her territory got expanded to Southwest Detroit, and she saw her first chained dog.

"I never saw a chained dog before, and so I stopped. It was snowing, it was winter, and I was mad. I saw this dog out there with nothing in his dilapidated house," she said. "So I called my husband at work, and I told him, write this address down, because I'm going to knock on this door — and that's how C.H.A.I.N.E.D started."

List in hand, volunteer Carrie Cox ushered her team into two cars and sat shotgun in a pick-up packed with bales driven by fellow volunteer Vince Pulis.

Volunteer and Saving Tails Animal Rescue (STAR) animal rescue President Heather Rousseau drives more volunteers in a second car.

"Chained dogs and outside dogs are a little different, a lot of dogs on a chain may appear to be aggressive," Cox said. "Sometimes they're not socialized, a lot of their owners believe that dogs belong outside, or it's protection."

Cox said it's important for volunteers to be careful, because some of the dogs they encounter are very guarded.

Conditions vary. Some dogs roam backyards, others are confined to tight spaces — the cleanliness and health of each dog varies, but volunteers work to help owners with whatever they can. whether it's offering to help them get their dogs to the vet for check-ups or spaying and neutering.

During outreach trips, Pulis said, they try to get photos of the dogs and keep an eye out for any sores, health issues or extreme emaciation.

"There's only so much we can do," he said. "The goal is to educate these people, help them keep these dogs happy and healthy in the home ... not have another homeless dog."

On outreach runs, team leaders ask owners or neighbors for updates and take detailed field notes to enter into the organization's system for next check-in.

If conditions are really bad, Cox said, the organization will file a report with the Michigan Humane Society, which has the authority to issue citations.

"We try not to let perfect get in the way of better," Cox said. "We can’t take every dog that we see but we can try to make their life a little bit better."

The organization isn't a rescue, Cox said, but in extreme cases they will work with foster organizations to secure a rescue and sign a legal surrender with the owner.

Cox has taken in two formerly chained dogs, a boxer pit named Chucho and a 13-year-old "Shar-Pei-chow-lab mix " named Bacci.

C.H.A.I.N.E.D, Inc. built a kennel for Bacci's previous owners, but when they moved, they left him in the yard. Cox said she reached and asked them to surrender the dog to her, and he's gone from a "grumpy old man" to playing with toys again.

"(There's) a big difference we see when we build a kennel and a dog comes off a chain," she said. "It is the best part... when you take a dog off the chain and they run for the first time free, it makes me cry."

Coming up to a house with a newly-built fence, Cox said a dog named Lobo and his owners are considered a C.H.A.I.N.E.D. success.

Owners Maribel and Mario Santana got their Lobo, whose name means wolf in Spanish, in 2015 as a puppy.

"Before I had to keep him on the chain all the time, he's a big boy, very playful and strong, the yard wasn't fenced in like it is now," Maribel Santana said.

Cox said C.H.A.I.N.E.D. worked with them to build Lobo a kennel last November, and Santana said they put their fence up last year.

"He doesn't have that aggressive energy that he used to have. He's happy, he's a happy dog," Santana said.

"C.H.A.I.N.E.D. does a wonderful job, on a time I was going through a lot, they were always here... they go above and beyond."

Having gotten to know some of the dog owners very well, Cox said, the organization has helped folks get Christmas dinner and they'll even check-in a couple of times a month to bring owners, as well as their dogs some food.

"You meet a lot of people that don't have other things, like housing and food," Rousseau said. "You gotta work with the people to make it better... but tiptoe the balance between helping and enabling."

Pulis called Lobo's case "a total win," and Cox added that the Santanas have "helped us help them."

Along the route Sunday, the team came upon two stray dogs wandering near Casper Street and W. Edsel Ford Freeway service drive — just off of I-94.

Abandoned dogs are a gray area, but if they see a dog in need whose ownership isn't clear, they will place the animal in a stray hold, Cox explained

Rousseau, whose foster-based animal rescue STAR has helped C.H.A.I.N.E.D. find homes for seven formerly chained dogs and a number of puppies, said when taking dogs in for a stray hold, they'll share information to the For The Love of Louie Facebook page for missing pets and place the animal into foster care in the meantime.

If no one comes forward, they will work to get the animal adopted.

"We do what we have to legally," Rousseau said.

While one of the stray dogs got away, the team took in a female pit bull mix who appeared to have "mange or some kind of skin issue," Roussaue said.

Pulis and Cox told the Free Press that pit bulls are the most common chained dogs on their routes. Cox said many people on their team have grown to love the breed.

"Pits are very high energy, they need to run, they need to play... I will defend the breed 'til the day I die," Pulis said.

Although the city of Detroit passed an anti-tether ordinance in 2017, Cox and Pulis said it's been difficult to enforce.

C.H.A.I.N.E.D. volunteers go out on monthly outreach routes during the winter, Cox said, and throughout the rest of the year, their visits are prompted by direct emails and calls. Most of their kennel builds happen in the summer, Cox said, and they'll also run into more heart worm cases, heatstroke, sun burn and more puppies.

Volunteers said they've run into owners who constantly breed their dogs to make money, but the organization doesn't help breeders who may just be taking advantage of their resources.

"There's a fine line between feeling like you're enabling instead of helping, but at the same time, you have to remember we're here to help the dogs and these people are going to do what they're going to do anyways," he said.